Please see news article from Capradio regarding latest activity at the Science Center building. 

Full article here.

Excerpts from article state:

“The Outreach and Engagement Center normally has capacity to serve 50 people, but during weather-related emergencies capacity is expanded to serve up to 100 people.”

“People who have come to the Auburn Boulevard facility for the walk-up warming center enter through a metal gate and are briefly interviewed before being escorted inside. In the foyer, staff ask about health concerns, intake guests’ possessions, and check if a guest is in the Homeless Management Information System. According to Sacramento Steps Forward, the organization tasked with tracking homelessness in the region, this system is a community-wide database used by homeless service providers to “collect confidential client-level data including demographics, history of homelessness and services accessed, and service needs.”

“The building has port-a-potties, portable showers, a kennel area, a small dining hall, a dorm for men and women and a lounge space with recliners.”

”The dorms do not have bunk beds; staff provide fold-out mattresses for people to place on the ground, along with a blanket. Although the shelter is meant to temporarily house single adults, one room was cordoned off with a sheet. Behind it, a family was settling down for the night. Hope Cooperative CEO Erin Johansen said the site has to be flexible.

“This was not designed to be a long term shelter” she said. “When you go into a shelter that is designed that way, you might have cots all over the place. This is just bare bones mats on the floor. It was designed to be very short term, [for] triage and warming.”